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"That which wholly looks abroad outward upon its Object, is not one with that which it perceives, but is at a distance from it, and therefore cannot Know and Comprehend it; but Knowledge and Intellection doth not meerly look out upon a thing at distance, but makes an Inward Reflection upon the thing it knows, and according to the Etymon of the Word, 'the Intellect' doth read inward Characters written within itself, and Intellectually comprehend its Object within it self, and is the same with it."

— Cudworth, Ralph (1617-1688)

Author

Cudworth, Ralph (1617-1688)

Work Title

A Treatise Concerning Eternal and Immutable Morality

Place of Publication

London

Publisher

Printed for James and John Knapton

Date

1731

Metaphor

"That which wholly looks abroad outward upon its Object, is not one with that which it perceives, but is at a distance from it, and therefore cannot Know and Comprehend it; but Knowledge and Intellection doth not meerly look out upon a thing at distance, but makes an Inward Reflection upon the thing it knows, and according to the Etymon of the Word, 'the Intellect' doth read inward Characters written within itself, and Intellectually comprehend its Object within it self, and is the same with it."

Metaphor in Context

4. The Essence of nothing is reached unto by the Senses looking Outward, but by the Mind's looking inward into it self. That which wholly looks abroad outward upon its Object, is not one with that which it perceives, but is at a distance from it, and therefore cannot Know and Comprehend it; but Knowledge and Intellection doth not meerly look out upon a thing at distance, but makes an Inward Reflection upon the thing it knows, and according to the Etymon of the Word, the Intellect doth read inward Characters written within itself, and Intellectually comprehend its Object within it self, and is the same with it. For though this may be conceived to be true of Individual things Known (although the Mind understands them also under abstract Notions of its own) yet, at least in Aristotle's Sense, it is unquestionably true, In Abstract things themselves, which are the Primary Objects of Science, the Intellect and the thing known are really one and the same. For those Ideas or Objects of Intellection are nothing else but Modifications of the Mind itself. But Sense is of that which is without, Sense wholly gazes and gads abroad, and therefore doth not know and comprehend its Object, because it is different from it. Sense is a Line, the Mind is a Circle. Sense is like a Line which is the Flux of a Point running out from it self, but Intellect like a Circle that keeps within it self.
(III.iii.4, pp. 97-9)